Belgrade Opens Border to Croatia, except on Prevlaka

MONTENEGRO STILL UNDER QUARANTINE

AIM Podgorica, 16 November, 1997

After interruption which lasted for six long years, a
few days ago, regular railroad traffic between Croatia and FR
Yugoslavia was re-established. This new step towards
normalization of relations between Belgrade and Zagreb is the
result of a previously signed agreement of two foreign
ministers, Milutinovic and Granic. Neither in that document
nor in practice, opening of the border at Debeli brijeg which
separates Montenegro and Croatia has been mentioned though.
"It seems that this will continue to be like that, until Mate
Granic opens this question", independent daily Vijesti writes
in its editorial, ironically underlining in this way the
passive attitude of Yugoslav foreign minister Milutinovic
concerning this issue.

It is obvious that it suits Milosevic's regime to keep
Montenegro in the subordinate position and isolation for as
long as possible. This is also confirmed by the words of Dr
Hrvoje Kacic, head of the Croatian office for borders, who has
revealed that "Yugoslavia has demanded that the question of
Prevlaka be omitted from the negotiations". "This is a sign
that Belgrade ignores interests of the population of Boka
Kotorska and that Montenegro cannot step forward
internationally without previously coordinating its stand with
Belgrade", said Kacic.

After the presidential elections in Montenegro and the
victory of for Belgrade unacceptable Milo Djukanovic, this
fixing of the Montenegrin-Croatian border may last for a long
time to come. Although there were rumours in the election
campaign that after a possible triumph, Djukanovic would
immediately open the question of isolation of Montenegro by
Belgrade, he is still very reserved about it. Probably faced
with the vehemence of the attack and denial from Milosevic's
media strongholds, the new president of Montenegro still does
not seem to dare to go to Prevlaka and lift fortification
barriers, as symbolically just a few months ago one of his
associates announced he would do. In a recent interview to
Sarajevo TV 99, to the question when the Kotor bishop would be
able to sit in a car and in just an hour reach his colleague
in Dubrovnik, Djukanovic answered in very general terms in the
sense that he hoped that this question would be resolved very
soon to satisfaction and benefit of both parties.

However, this "just" demarcation, by which the regime
propaganda is in fact justifying the fact that it is putting
the problem of Prevlaka on ice, is not at all indispensable
for opening of the border and normalization of traffic. This
was illustrated by the case of the mentioned normalization of
railroad traffic between Belgrade and Zagreb which occurred
although the demarcation line between the two countries has
not been drawn yet in the so-called Srem-Baranja region.
Although for Croatia, the question of all borders was resolved
the minute the international community accepted the so-called
"AVNOJ borders" (established between republics of former
Yugoslavia after the Second World War) as state borders,
Serbia and Montenegro, that is, their authorities, are still
bargaining with empty terminology such as "just demarcation",
keeping the population in the illusion that it is possible,
after all, to correct the borders. This is also the case with
Prevlaka - there is absolutely nothing controversial about it
for Croatia when territory is concerned, but when security is
concerned there certainly is. Similar is the opinion, although
they do not dare state it publicly yet, of the political
parties which have supported the candidacy of Djukanovic in
the past elections in Montenegro. They even refer to sessions
of the Montenegrin parliament back in 1991, when the document
was adopted which marked the border with Croatia as "the
existing border", and not as ever since then Milosevic has
been calling it - "the administrative border".

"Due to the position it holds in the federation,
Montenegro is not the one which decides about its borders even
on the level of expert groups which could exchange opinions
and findings", Dr Kacis assesses, adding that the Croatian
delegation headed by Stijepo Obad has done a comprehensive job
concerning Prevlaka, but that it had nobody to offer it to or
who to talk about it.

By the servile policy pursued during all these years
in relation to Belgrade, even concerning establishing and
opening borders, Montenegro has been brought into a check mate
position. Not only legally, but also politically. For
instance, in the existing atmosphere, even the smallest step
forward taken independently by Djukanovic in the direction of
"removing" obstacles in Debeli brijeg would immediately be
interpreted as a step towards secession by Belgrade and its
satellites in Podgorica. But, nowadays when Podgorica holds
certain amount of power, it would be nonsensical to wait any
further and endure a trully humiliating position. Djukanovic
himself should be aware of this. His moves concerning borders,
both this with Croatia and the one with Albania (where there
is only one border crossing!) will show authenticity of the
newly elected Montenegrin President's pledging for independent
and dignified position of this republic in the joint state.

The day before Djukanovic takes over the post of the
president on 15 January, the mandate of UN observers will
expire on Prevlaka. In case the Security Council fails to
reach a decision about new prolongation of the mission,
Djukanovic will immediately get his chance to show whether he
is truly in favour of open borders or Bulatovic's "most
beautifuul prison in the world".